Justice Alito: Questioning Legitimacy of SCOTUS ‘Crosses an Important Line’

Bill PanSeptember 29, 2022

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has weighed in to defend the recent rulings from the conservative majority, saying that those questioning the high court’s legitimacy have “crossed an important line.”

Alito, who penned the majority opinion that essentially sent the question of abortion access back to individual states, was asked by the Wall Street Journal whether overturning precedent threatens the Supreme Court’s legitimacy.

“It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit,” Alito told the Journal on Sept. 27. “But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line.”

Alito’s comment comes as Justice Elena Kagan and Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to engage in a debate without mentioning each other’s names. Speaking at a Northwestern University School of Law forum, Kagan implied that the conservative majority on the nation’s highest court was acting for the political benefit of Republicans and, as a result, damaging the Court’s legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

“When courts become extensions of the political process, when people see them as extensions of the political process, when people see them as trying just to impose personal preferences on a society irrespective of the law, that’s when there’s a problem,” Kagan said at the Sept. 14 event.

Kagan reiterated the claims during her visit last week to Salve Regina University in Rhode Island, implying that the conservative justices have trouble putting partisan politics aside.

“The very worst moments have been times when judges have even essentially reflected one party’s or one ideology’s set of views in their legal decisions,” said Kagan, an Obama appointee and former Harvard Law School dean. “The thing that builds up reservoirs of public confidence is the